The DSMDC is a group of Metal Detecting enthusiasts who meet monthly to share their treasure finds with fellow members and discuss some of their tips and tricks of the trade.
The meetings are held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Members and guests may arrive as early as 6:30 p.m. This will give everyone time to socialize, so we can start on time.
Come join the fun! Visitors are always welcome. Click on the Meeting Schedule banner below for meeting location, dates and time.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Explorers have found the wreck of a Russian Imperial Navy ship
that was sunk 113 years ago and may contain $130 billion in gold bars and
coins, according to news reports.

In a statement, salvage company Shinil Group confirmed that the
stern of the vessel, the Dmitry Donskoi, had been discovered off South Korea’s
Ulleungdo Island. It was badly damaged following an attack by Japanese warships
during the Russo-Japanese War and was scuttled in the Sea of Japan on May 29,
1905.

The Korea Timesreportsthat the
South Korean salvage firm, which has been searching for the wreck for years,
used two manned submarines to spot the ship on Saturday.

The Dmitry Donskoi, a 5,800-ton
ironclad cruiser, was in a fleet of 38 Russian Imperial Navy ships deployed
from the Baltic to the Pacific. Citing historical accounts, The Expressreportsthat the
Dmitry Donskoi may be treasure-laden. In addition to carrying port expenses and
salaries for the fleet’s sailors and officers, she may have held gold reserves
of other Russian ships damaged in the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.

Rumors of a gold hoard on the ship have swirled for decades,
although the possibility of a sunken treasure has also been viewed with
skepticism. According to The New York Times,
one historian told Bloomberg in 2000 that it would have been safer to send the
gold to the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok by rail, as opposed to using a
ship.

In its statement, Shinil Group said that it had found a large
amount of iron boxes in the ship’s stern, and “will take measures
to preserve them.” The boxes’ contents have not been revealed.

In addition to the stern, 203 mm cannons, 152 mm long-distance
guns, a number of machine guns, anchors, two stacks, three masts, wooden decks
and armor are also visible on the wreck.

“One-third of the stern is bombarded and the hull is
severely damaged,” Shinil Group explained in a statement. “However, the upper
deck of the wooden hull is almost untouched. The armor on the side of
the hull is also well preserved, while the anchors, guns and machine
guns remain in place.”

All three of the ship’s masts and its two chimneys are broken.

Experts from the U.K. and Canadian marine exploration company
Nuytco are also part of the international team working on the Dmitry Donskoi
project.

While detecting in the desert, the man discovered a gold nugget which weighed over 389 troy ounces.

This nugget was awarded the name ‘Boot of Cortez’ due to its size and remains to this day the largest nugget ever found in the Western hemisphere.

In 2008, the Boot of Cortez was sold for $1,553,500 at an auction.

3. A Finger Bone and Ring

If you’re slightly squeamish you might be glad you didn’t stumble across this next find.

In Little Bighorn, a volunteer archaeologist discovered a finger bone which was still wearing a ring.

The bone and ring was said to be from 1876 when Sioux had wiped out the troops of Lt. Col. George Custer.

4. Gold Iron Age Necklaces

Another stonkingly valuable find, back in 2009 a Scotsman found four golden necklaces from the Iron Age.

The necklaces were in perfect condition and one source said that some of the gold wire used ‘is the thickness of your finger’.

If you’re wondering how much they’re worth, the answer is, a lot. We’re unsure how much the Scotsman was given, but the value of the necklaces was said to be over $2 million.

5. A Bronze Age Axe Head

Historian Steve Hickling from Huyton was hunting for treasure when he discovered a rare Bronze Age axe head, said to be one of only 1000.

It’s dated from 1850-1750BC, so pretty darn old. The axe head has been displayed in the Fir Tree Farm shop, where Hickling was hunting for treasure when he found it.

6. A Two-Pound Meteor

Discovering a 2lb meteor is enough for any adult to contend with, let alone a 13-year-old. Jason Lyons came across the 2lb chunk of ‘space rock’ in New Mexico, using a cheap metal detector built by his grandfather.

The meteor was revealed to have existed on Earth for around 10,000 years, made of nickel-iron and the second most common (although still exceptionally rare) space matter.

7. Loss
Class Ring

Lost jewelry seems to always find its way back to you, and that’s exactly what happened to Miles Baker, whose lost high school class ring was discovered by Roy Lloyd in 1974.Lloyd found the ring, engraved M.B in four inches of sand. The ring was lost by Baker 48 years before, but was soon reunited with its owner – and they all lived happily ever after!

8. Buried Treasure

A lot of these finds would be classified as ‘buried treasure’, but Eric Lawes find was slightly more spectacular.While searching for his friend’s lost hammer, Eric Lawes stumbled across silver spoons, gold jewellery and a wealth of gold and silver coins.With two bags full of the goodies, Lawes reported his find to the council.The next day, 7.7lbs of gold were unearthed by archaeologists, alongside 52.4lbs of silver. The coins were buried no later than 450 AD, and the whole hoard was worth around $2.59 million.For those of you who are concerned, the friend’s missing hammer was also found.

9. Ringlemere Cup

File:RinglemereCup-BritishMuseum-20070829.jpg

Cliff Bradshaw, an amateur treasure hunter had already found several seventh century artefacts in an English wheat field, and had an inkling he would find something more.

Well, if there’s one lesson we can learn from this, it’s to trust your intuition. Bradshaw was right, digging 18 inches before discovering an ancient gold cup.

The cup, made between 1700 and 1500 BC, delighted historians. Despite being crushed by modern farming equipment, it’s still remarkably intact – hammered from a single piece of gold.

The cup was purchased by the British museum for $520,000.

10. 5th Century European
Royalty Ring

Made of gold, glass and sapphire, the ring Michael Greenhorn discovered in 2015, may have been owned by 5th century European royalty.

Found in Escrick, Yorkshire, the ring was difficult to date, with 30 experts trying to get their head around the piece of jewellery.

Perhaps most baffling, the sapphire had been cut centuries before the ring had been actually made, with the ring created solely to display the sapphire. The ring was purchased by the Yorkshire museum for $44,132.

11. Crosby Garrett Helmet

Another discovery in an English field were dozens of pieces of a 1,800-year-old helmet.

The metal detectorist who found the fragments brought them to an auction house where over 200 hours were spent putting the helmet together.

The finished helmet is everything you might expect from a helmet that old. It features a Roman face mask attached to a bronze cap with a griffin crest.

The helmet proved hugely popular at auction, eventually selling for $3.6 million which was over 10 times its estimated value.

File:Crosby Garret Helmet at Sale.jpg

12. Viking Treasure Trove

Photo Source:Daily Mail

2007 saw father and son David and Andrew Whelan find something significant – a single coin.

While this might be enough for some, the persistent pair kept digging, eventually unveiling a wealth of gold and silver Viking treasure.

The treasure was found in a North Yorkshire field and was worth around £750,000. The pair took half the money, with the farmer whose field it was found on keeping the other half.

The treasure has now been displayed at the British Museum and consists of a decorated gilt and silver cup, 617 coins, a solid gold arm ring, brooch pins and other lumps of silver. The hoard belonged to a Viking noble and was likely buried for safe keeping.

Central Jersey Rare Coins

Fisher Research Labs

Garrett Metal Detectors

The Gold Digger Metal Detectors

Minelab Metal Detectors

https://www.minelab.com/metal-detectors

Teknetics Metal Detectors

https://www.tekneticsdirect.com

XP Metal Detectors America

http://www.xpmetaldetectorsamericas.com

ATTENTION

The Deep Search Metal Detecting Club is asking if any landowner / homeowner with property in the state of New Jersey, might be willing to allow our organization to conduct metal detecting on their land is asked to contact DSMDC President Donna Funk